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Obama "frustrated" over state's Ebola policies

U.S. President Barack Obama emphasizes his support for Ebola medics and says he is ''frustrated'' by policies like mandatory quarantines. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

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ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
STORY: U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday (October 29) emphasized his support for traveling Ebola medics at a White House event with doctors and nurses who are volunteering in West Africa.
"We need to call them what they are, which is American heroes. They deserve our gratitude and they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect," Obama said after being introduced by Dr. Kent Brantly who was treated for Ebola in Atlanta after contracting virus in West Africa.
Obama had said the day before that Ebola policies adopted by states in the U.S. should not discourage Americans willing to fight West Africa's outbreak.
Some states have imposed their own safeguards, including mandatory quarantines for doctors and nurses returning from the three countries at the center of the epidemic, saying federal policies do not adequately protect the public.
"When I hear people talking about American leadership and then (they) are promoting policies that would avoid leadership, and have us running in the opposite direction and hiding under the covers, it leaves me a little frustrated," Obama said.
Federal health officials and others have criticized stricter state measures as potentially counterproductive, saying they could deter American doctors and other healthcare professionals from volunteering to help fight the epidemic at its source in West Africa.
But some lawmakers, particularly Republicans, have criticized the response by Obama's administration as inept.

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